Buoyant pump rod and booster valve for oil well pumps



c. T. FLEMING 2,743,677

BUOYANT PUMP ROD AND BOOSTER VALVE FOR OIL WELL PUMPS May 1, 1956 Filed Oct. 19, 1951 Charles 7: Fleming IN VEN TOR.

BY WWW Em ar A1 United States Patent BUOYANT PUMP ROD AND BOOSTER VALVE FDR 01L WELL PUMPS Charles T. Fleming, Taft, Calif.

Application llllctober 19, 1951, Serial No. 252,090

1 Claim. (Cl. 103-429) The present invention relates to new and useful im provements in oil well pumps and more particularly to the provision of a buoyant pump rod and also a booster valve for the pump to reduce pressure, strain and wear on the pump and the oil well equipment.

An important object of the invention is to construct the upper portion of the pump rod of hollow tubing having its upper and lower ends sealed to function as a float to aid in the upstroke of the pump and to further provide a standing valve between the hollow tubing and the pump equipped with a check valve to relieve the pump of oil pressure above the pump on its downstroke.

Another object is to construct the standing valve in a manner to function as a sand trap to prevent return of facture and otherwise well adapted for the purposes for which the same is intended.

Other objects and advantages reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view;

Figures 2 and 3 are enlarged transverse sectional views taken on the lines 2-2 and 3-3 of Figure 1, and

Figure 4 is a side elevational view, on reduced scale and partly in section, showing the buoyant section of the pump rod.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, wherein for the purpose of illustration I have disclosed a preferred embodiment of my invention, the numeral 5 designates the usual well tubing having a union 6 therein formed with a valve seat 7 for a standing valve 8.

The standing valve includes a hollow body 8a to receive the lower end of pump rod 9 and to the lower end of which the pump 10 of a conventional type is con nected. A disk 11 is formed with apertures 12 and forms a valve seat which is closely fitted in the upper end of hollow valve body So and the periphery of the disk is formed with a flange 13 of reduced cross-section. A valve cage 14 includes a sleeve 14a at its lower portion having a bore 14b formed with an internally threaded counterbore 14c and which forms an internal shoulder 14d in the sleeve. The flange 13 of disk 11 is positioned in the counterbore 14c and clamped on top of the valve body 8a by shoulder 14d. A disk-type check valve 15 is held captive in cage 14 to rest on and close the apertures 12 in valve seat 11. The pump rod 9 is slid- 2,743,677 Patented May 1, 1956 able centrally in the disk 11, check valve 15 and valve cage 14.

A tubular or hollow pump rod section 16 is closed at its lower end by a cap 17 to which upper end 9 of the pump rod is attached and the upper end of hollow section 16 is also closed by a cap 18 and to which the surface rocker arm (not shown) is connected for operating the pump.

In the operation of the device, fluid picked up by the pump on its upstroke is forced upwardly through valve 15 of standing valve 0 and on the downstroke of the pump valve 15 closes supporting the fluid above it and relieving the pump of the pressure of the fluid for its pumping stroke.

The pumping or upward stroke of the pump is further aided by the buoyancy of hollow pump rod section 16.

In view of the foregoing description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings it is believed that a clear understanding of the device will be quite apparent to those skilled in this art. A more detailed description is accordingly deemed unnecessary.

It is to be understood, however, that even though there is herein shown and described a preferred embodiment of the invention the same is susceptible to certain changes fully comprehended by the spirit of the invention as herein described and the scope of the appended claim.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

A standing valve construction including a hollow standing valve body having an axial bore therethrough adapted for slidably receiving a pump sucker rod of a diameter substantially less than the diameter of the bore in the valve body, a disk frictionally fitted in and closing the bore at the upper end of the valve body and having a peripheral flange of reduced cross-section overlying and resting on said closed end of the valve body, said disk having a port therethrough opening into the bore of the valve body, a valve cage including a sleeve portion at its lower end and in the bore of which the disk is frictionally fitted, said sleeve portion having a counterbore at the junction of the sleeve portion and valve body and in which the flange of said disk is engaged, said sleeve portion being threadedly connected to the valve body to clamp the flange in the counterbore, and a check valve member slidingly disposed in said cage and selectively seated on said disk to close the port in the latter, and said valve cage, said disk and said check valve having aligned central bores through which the sucker rod is slidable.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 619,033 Williams Feb. 7, 1899 1,025,977 Henderson May 14, 1912 1,065,225 Cunningham June 17, 1913 1,097,955 Walinder May 26, 1914 1,156,052 Brown Oct. 12, 1915 1,689,794 Morris Oct. 30, 1928 1,830,257 Bohnenblust Nov. 3, 1931 1,997,880 Watry Apr. 16, 1935 2,131,822 Schmidt Oct. 4, 1938 2,198,957 Watts Apr. 30, 1940 2,538,592 Pratt Jan. 16, 1951 2,652,000 Woolsey Sept. 15, 1953 2,698,586 Stanley Jan. 4, 1955 

